From: Reijer Grimbergen yz yamagata-u ac jp> Date: 14 dec 2005 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 1125, December 7th 2005) Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Save up to $1,500 on your phone bill with Packet8 Free Activation, Free Equipment & First Month Free! 30-day money back guarantee. 1-877-868-1135 http://click.topica.com/= caaegt4a2i6YsbnuqMaa/ TMONE ------------------------------------------------------------------- In this report the 4th and final game of the Ryu-O match between=20 Watanabe and Kimura. Watanabe completed a white-wash of first-time=20 challenger Kimura and that says everything. The game was like the match:= =20 dominated by Watanabe even though Kimura had some chances now and then.=20 Here is the game with comments: [Black "Watanabe Akira, Ryu-O"] [White "Kimura Kazuki, Challenger"] [Event "18th Ryu-O sen, Game 4"] [Date "November 29th and 30th 2005"] 1.P7g-7f 00:02:00 00:00:00 2.P3c-3d 00:02:00 00:03:00 3.P2g-2f 00:04:00 00:03:00 4.G4a-3b 00:04:00 00:06:00 5.G6i-7h 00:10:00 00:06:00 6.B2bx8h+ 00:10:00 00:12:00 For the second time in this match the Kakugawari with tempo loss. This=20 time Kimura is playing with the white pieces. 7.S7ix8h 00:12:00 00:12:00 8.S3a-4b 00:12:00 00:13:00 9.S3i-3h 00:19:00 00:13:00 10.S7a-6b 00:19:00 00:16:00 11.P4g-4f 00:23:00 00:16:00 12.P6c-6d 00:23:00 00:20:00 13.S3h-4g 00:26:00 00:20:00 14.S6b-6c 00:26:00 00:22:00 15.K5i-6h 00:30:00 00:22:00 16.K5a-4a 00:30:00 00:29:00 17.S8h-7g 00:41:00 00:29:00 18.K4a-3a 00:41:00 00:34:00 19.P1g-1f 00:50:00 00:34:00 20.P1c-1d 00:50:00 00:35:00 21.P3g-3f 00:51:00 00:35:00 22.S6c-5d 00:51:00 00:43:00 23.G4i-5h 01:01:00 00:43:00 24.G6a-5b 01:01:00 00:54:00 25.P9g-9f 01:16:00 00:54:00 26.P9c-9d 01:16:00 01:30:00 27.K6h-7i 01:17:00 01:30:00 28.P6d-6e 01:17:00 01:36:00 29.S4g-5f 01:44:00 01:36:00 30.R8b-6b 01:44:00 01:49:00 31.N2i-3g 02:34:00 01:49:00 32.S4b-3c 02:34:00 01:53:00 33.G5h-4g 02:38:00 01:53:00 34.P7c-7d 02:38:00 02:30:00 35.K7i-8h 03:25:00 02:30:00 36.P8c-8d 03:25:00 03:18:00 37.S5f-4e?! 04:22:00 03:18:00 The sealed move. Both players have used the first day to put their=20 pieces into position and the fight is starting with the first move of=20 the second day. 37.S4e was a surprise. In the press room 37.P2e was=20 expected. Then black has the plan S4e Sx4e Nx4e and after the silver=20 moves from 3c, the pawn exchange on 2d is a natural development. 38.S5d-5e?! 04:22:00 03:45:00 The defender Kimura chooses a line that is pulling in the black pieces,=20 but that may have been ill-advised. Better seems to be 38.Sx4e Nx4e S4d=20 P2e and then P7e Px7e P9e Px9e Sx4e Px4e Lx9e threatens P*7f Sx7f B*5e,=20 forking the king and rook. In the post-mortem analysis, Watanabe was at=20 first confident that there was some way to play this position with=20 black, but had to admit in the end that he might have been a little=20 overconfident here. Kimura also admitted that he should have looked a=20 little bit longer at the natural Sx4e. 39.N3g-2e 04:23:00 03:45:00 40.S3c-2b 04:23:00 04:27:00 41.S4ex3d 04:31:00 04:27:00 42.N8a-7c 04:31:00 04:45:00 43.P3f-3e 05:14:00 04:45:00 44.B*6d 05:14:00 05:35:00 It looks like white has some pressure himself, but... 45.B*8c! 05:28:00 05:35:00 This bishop looks bound to be lost, but white has to compromise his=20 position considerably to get to it. 46.G5b-6c 05:28:00 05:55:00 47.P5g-5f 05:28:00 05:55:00 48.S5e-4d 05:28:00 05:55:00 49.R2h-3h 05:28:00 05:55:00 50.P5c-5d 05:28:00 05:56:00 51.P1f-1e 05:28:00 05:56:00 52.P1dx1e 05:28:00 06:02:00 53.P*1c 05:28:00 06:02:00 54.L1ax1c 05:28:00 06:09:00 55.N2ex1c+ 05:40:00 06:09:00 56.S2bx1c 05:40:00 06:10:00 57.L*4e?! 05:40:00 06:10:00 Black has the better position after a successful edge attack, but this=20 is based on an oversight. Probably better was 57.P4e S5c L*3c Nx3c Sx3c+= =20 and now Gx3c fails to P*3d. Of course Watanabe had seen this, but he=20 didn't like P*3g +Sx3b Kx3b after Sx3c+ (R1h is then answered by L*1f).=20 If he is right, the position may not have been that good for black,=20 since 57.L*4e is also leading to trouble. 58.N7c-8e 05:40:00 06:20:00 59.L4ex4d 05:43:00 06:20:00 60.P4cx4d 05:43:00 06:21:00 61.S*5a 06:00:00 06:21:00 62.R6b-5b! 06:00:00 06:25:00 This was the move that Watanabe overlooked. It looks bad, because black=20 can promote the bishop and attack the rook at the same time with=20 63.B6a+, but then 64.K4a! +Bx5b Kx5b R*7b L*6b R7a+ N*6a stops the black= =20 attack. 63.L1ix1e! 06:04:00 06:25:00 A devious move. 64.S1c-2d? 06:04:00 06:29:00 The mistake that Watanabe counted on. He wasn't at all confident in the=20 position after 64.P*1d, but white has only two pawns in hand, so keeping= =20 the pawn in hand if possible is the professional way of thinking. Also,=20 it is highly unlikely that white will have the time to take the lance=20 with Px1e in this stage of the game. These two reasons make it very hard= =20 for a professional player to play 64.P*1d. Watanabe has outsmarted his=20 opponent here. 65.R3h-1h 06:27:00 06:29:00 66.K3a-4a 06:27:00 06:32:00 67.P2f-2e 06:27:00 06:32:00 68.K4ax5a 06:27:00 06:46:00 69.P2ex2d 06:27:00 06:46:00 70.R5b-8b 06:27:00 06:47:00 71.S*7b 06:28:00 06:47:00 72.G6c-7c 06:28:00 06:55:00 73.P2dx2c+ 06:28:00 06:55:00 74.G3b-3a? 06:28:00 07:16:00 The decisive mistake. 74.G3a makes it more difficult for black to=20 promote the rook, but there is a different attack that is just as=20 strong. Correct was 74.G4b which leads to a difficult position after=20 75.L1a+ Gx8c S6c+ L*6a +Sx6d Lx6d R1b+ S*6i. In some cases, the lance on= =20 6d might even work in attack. Kimura didn't think that Gx8c was good, so= =20 he didn't play this line. After 74.G4b, 75.R2h is an alternative, but=20 post-mortem analysis was inconclusive. 75.S3d-4c=3D 06:30:00 07:16:00 76.K5a-6b 06:30:00 07:26:00 77.S4cx5d+ 06:33:00 07:26:00 78.B6d-4b 06:33:00 07:26:00 79.L1e-1b+ 06:40:00 07:26:00 80.P*1g 06:40:00 07:29:00 81.R1h-2h 06:42:00 07:29:00 82.P*2g 06:42:00 07:29:00 83.R2hx2g 06:43:00 07:29:00 84.R8bx7b 06:43:00 07:33:00 85.+P2c-3b 06:47:00 07:33:00 86.G3ax3b 06:47:00 07:35:00 87.B8cx7b+ 06:47:00 07:35:00 88.K6bx7b 06:47:00 07:36:00 89.R2gx2a+ 06:48:00 07:36:00 90.P*3a 06:48:00 07:39:00 91.R*5b 06:53:00 07:39:00 92.L*6b 06:53:00 07:42:00 93.+R2ax3b 06:53:00 07:42:00 94.P3ax3b 06:53:00 07:46:00 95.G*6c! 06:53:00 07:46:00 Very strong. In the press room it was still thought that the position=20 was difficult after 95.Rx4b+ S*6i. Watanabe shows how to end the game=20 immediately. 96.G7cx6c 06:53:00 07:53:00 97.+S5dx6c 06:53:00 07:53:00 98.K7bx6c 06:53:00 07:53:00 99.R5bx4b+ 06:53:00 07:53:00 100.S*6i 06:53:00 07:59:00 101.G*5c 06:53:00 07:59:00 Resigns 06:53:00 07:59:00 Mate after 101.K6d +Rx6b or 101.K7c +Rx6b K8c B*6a K9c +R7c K9b +R8c.=20 Kimura might have had some chances in this game, but in general it was=20 all Watanabe again. Before the first game a close match was expected,=20 but in the end Watanabe won all four games. The most impressive part was= =20 how easily he broke down the best defender in the game. Kimura might=20 regret the chances he didn't take in the first and third game, but the=20 general impression of this match is that Watanabe played very well,=20 especially considering that he is only 21 years old. With this second=20 consecutive Ryu-O title, he also got a promotion to 9-dan, making him=20 the youngest 9-dan in history at 21 years and 7 months. Watanabe broke=20 Tanigawa's record by 4 months. It is also the fastest promotion to=20 9-dan: 5 years and 7 months after his pro debut (Tanigawa took 7 years=20 and 3 months). It is clear that Watanabe is the real thing and we can=20 expect a real challenge of the Habu generation in the coming years. --=20 Reijer Grimbergen Department of Informatics, Yamagata University Jonan 4-3-16, Yonezawa, 992-8510 Japan Tel: +81-(0)238-26-3740 FAX: +81-(0)238-26-3299 http://gamelab.yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp/ Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Is your computer freezing up or slowing down? 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